How to Heal Our Racial Divide by Derwin Gray

Collectively, our eyes could not unsee the brutal, callous modern-day lynching of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin. For over nine excruciating minutes, Mr. Floyd pleaded for his life as Chauvin's knee forced his neck to the street. Fellow police officers on the scene watched the murder in plain sight. They did nothing. Helpless people in the crowd pleaded for Chauvin to take his knee off Mr. Floyd's neck, but he would not. Mr. Floyd died. I am thankful Chauvin was found guilty of all three charges against him. He was sentenced to twenty-two and a half years in prison. There must be consequences for police brutality or it will continue. And I pray for Mr. Chauvin to meet Jesus, our forgiving King.

In an all-too-frequent scenario at Transformation Church since its beginning back in 2010, whether it was the White supremacist Dylann Roof mass murdering nine Black people at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church during a Bible study or another unarmed Black man being killed by a White officer under shady circumstances or a protest turned violent, my Sunday sermon opened with a time of mourning in response to the racial trauma. As the lead pastor of Transformation Church, it was vital that I lead and embody for our congregation the spiritual discipline of mourning. Racial trauma fueled by demonic powers reminds your Black siblings and other siblings of color of the historical injustices committed not so long ago. And collective mourning-regardless of your ethnicity-is the proper response.